68 K20 Panel truck, ex. civil defence vehicle

[Waynecar53]

K20, that just goes to prove that no two trucks are ever built alike. The original department may have requested the additional lights as the siren light combo provided very little in the way of warning. You may want to check the site "elightbars" for your Federal siren light. Another is "Dcaptain" who is a small collector who sells a few items. I see that you are also a member of "PCS" board who may also be a source. Then of course there is ebay where you will pay 5 times what it is worth but I've done that too when there was no other option.

Anyway, I'm glad it will remain a part of history. I may have an extra set of Radiological Monitors stored away somewhere. A few years ago I would also have had all of the lights that you need but I got out of that... Sorry.

Thanks for replying back to my post and have a great day. Wayne

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Nice!! I'm on board.

Originally Posted by Waynecar53

K20, that just goes to prove that no two trucks are ever built alike. The original department may have requested the additional lights as the siren light combo provided very little in the way of warning. You may want to check the site "elightbars" for your Federal siren light. Another is "Dcaptain" who is a small collector who sells a few items. I see that you are also a member of "PCS" board who may also be a source. Then of course there is ebay where you will pay 5 times what it is worth but I've done that too when there was no other option.

Anyway, I'm glad it will remain a part of history. I may have an extra set of Radiological Monitors stored away somewhere. A few years ago I would also have had all of the lights that you need but I got out of that... Sorry.

Thanks for replying back to my post and have a great day. Wayne

Hi Wayne,

thanks for all the info. Now that I know what lights I need, it should be possible to get them within reasonable time. My only real problem is, that I have no picture from the back in the CD trim and no original interior pics. Therefore I have no idea what was inside, as it was all empty when I bought it. The only Thing I can see/tell is, that there seemed to be some kind of small table behind the drivers seat. That is all I can see.

Sad is, that the roof rack and custom rear bumper are missing, that means I´ll have to re-make them just ba the pictures.

Not sure where to get the rescue basket that used to be on the rack.

But it´ll be a long time, before I get this far. First the mechanics and the body/paint need to be done.

Ralf

[Waynecar53]

As I recall the back doors were lettered either FIRE RESCUE or RESCUE SERVICE depending on the age of the truck and all carried the round CD logo. I might be able to get you a pic of the roof rack that is on an International, they were all basically the same. The rescue basket you refer to is called a "Stokes Basket" and I have one if you cant find one closer to you. The roof racks were simple angle iron and the bumpers were just diamond plate steel with a step across the bottom. I'm sure that you have already but if not Google "Civil Defense truck" and there are several photos of the "contents" that was carried displayed outside on a tarp. A member over on the PCS board from Ca. has reproduced the CD logos but any good sign shop could do those for you. Looking forward to following this project...Wayne

[Waynecar53]

I forgot to mention... check out the Civil Defense Museum sitr. There is a list of the equipment carried on light duty (yours) medium and heavy duty trucks plus some great photos....

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by Waynecar53

As I recall the back doors were lettered either FIRE RESCUE or RESCUE SERVICE depending on the age of the truck and all carried the round CD logo. I might be able to get you a pic of the roof rack that is on an International, they were all basically the same. The rescue basket you refer to is called a "Stokes Basket" and I have one if you cant find one closer to you. The roof racks were simple angle iron and the bumpers were just diamond plate steel with a step across the bottom. I'm sure that you have already but if not Google "Civil Defense truck" and there are several photos of the "contents" that was carried displayed outside on a tarp. A member over on the PCS board from Ca. has reproduced the CD logos but any good sign shop could do those for you. Looking forward to following this project...Wayne

Hi Wayne, it would be great if you could get a picutre or two off of that international truck with the roof rack. I´ll have to get the mechanical and the Body work done first, but if I can´t come up with a stokes basked, I´ll get back to you for that. Thanks for the offer. I did locate a siren and the large beacon and have someone look for the small beacons.

The rear bumper on this truck was a Little different, they had 3 compartments in the bumper, I assume for ropes or stuff like that. So it´ll be a Little more difficult to recreate that from scratch!

Originally Posted by Waynecar53

I forgot to mention... check out the Civil Defense Museum sitr. There is a list of the equipment carried on light duty (yours) medium and heavy duty trucks plus some great photos....

Thanks I did and already saved the Pictures, so I can go on the hunt for parts once the truck gets done.

Ralf

[Waynecar53]

Ralf, I can't help you much on the bumper. I'll see what I can do on the roof rack but it may take me a few weeks as the truck is not near where I live. I just got back from the big antique car meet in Hershey Pa. and while I found a few things on my wish list I could have brought home a bunch more. If you have never been you have to go there once. Fortunately most everything that you need to outfit the back of your truck is either still made or available from the local hardware store. Wayne

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by Waynecar53

Ralf, I can't help you much on the bumper. I'll see what I can do on the roof rack but it may take me a few weeks as the truck is not near where I live. I just got back from the big antique car meet in Hershey Pa. and while I found a few things on my wish list I could have brought home a bunch more. If you have never been you have to go there once. Fortunately most everything that you need to outfit the back of your truck is either still made or available from the local hardware store. Wayne

Hi Wayne, I just found some Pictures of other 67-72 chevy/GMC ambulances with similar rear bumpers. So I guess it might not have been custom after all, could be that it was made by a Company back then. I wish i could find out who made it, so I could look for one, instead of trying to reproduce it myself.

No rush, take your time. I have all winter to work on the rood rack. I have never been to this antique car meet, but it sounds great.

I am sure i can find most things, but the most difficult is that rear bumper, maybe the Roof rack and to get the lettering correct as I want that airbrushed below the clear coat, to make it last.

First Thing for now is getting the old and cracked tires off, have the wheels blasted and repainted, get new tubes and new tires installed.

Ralf